Why I keep a notebook
The notebook is cheaper than therapy and more honest than memory. Everything I think I’ll remember, I won’t. Everything I write down lasts longer than I do.
It also slows me down, which is the real reason. Typing is fast. Speech is fast. The hand is slow on purpose. The slowness is what does the thinking.
Three rules
- Date the page. The note becomes a fossil; the date is the layer.
- One idea per page. If a second idea shows up, give it its own page.
- Don’t go back and edit. Yesterday’s mistake is today’s evidence.
That’s the whole system. There is nothing fancier underneath it. The notebooks pile up. After a few years, the pile is the work.
The notebook is a memory exoskeleton. The point isn’t to store everything — it’s to store the things you’ll thank yourself for later.
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